Hi-Fi Rush is a Rhythm Action game developed by Tango Gameworks announced during Xbox’s Developer_Direct Showcase and released later that night. I’ve only played the first chapter, but if it keeps up the fun, this could be a huge surprise hit for Xbox and PC gamers for January.
Feel The Beat
You play as Chai, a wannabe rockstar who signs up to be a test subject for a megacorporation that outfits you with robotic enhancements. Things don’t go as planned, and soon you don’t just listen to the beat in your headphones, your heart literally beats to the music. Here in lies Hi-Fi Rush’s main attraction – its bombastic rhythm action! Chai’s attacks always land on the beat, but if you press either attack button on beat you can build up combos and increase your rank throughout each encounter. It feels very much like Devil May Cry mixed with Metal: Hellsinger, one of my favorite games of 2022.
The world around Chai also moves to the beat: you’ll see steam releasing from vents and lights flashing in just time. Almost everything in the world that moves does so in time. And so do your enemies, making dodging on beat crucial to keep up your rank in combat.
S-Tier
Hi-Fi Rush looks, sounds, and plays incredibly. The comic art style bursts off the screen with vibrant colors. Combat is fast-paced and building up that rank during each encounter to achieve the legendary S tier ranking is addicting and fun. Of course, all of this would be for nothing if the music that you were jamming to wasn’t up to snuff. Luckily for Hi-Fi Rush, we seem to be in good hands. The game features a mix of licensed and original songs. The intro, for example, was set to The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy” and felt very fitting. Additionally, the game features a streamer mode that removes the licensed songs to avoid any DMCA takedowns. Check out some of the tracks here.
Story & Writing
Surprisingly, the thing that has me sold on the game the most so far is the writing. Chai is snarky and so eager to be center stage, but he doesn’t come off as annoying, which I enjoyed. The cast of characters around him, including some of the corporate robots you meet, is genuinely funny and I found myself giggling at their dialogue. I hope that Tango Gameworks can keep it up for the remainder of the game and dive deeper into the seedy ongoings of the corporation that marked Chai as a defect and hunts him down.
Hi-Fi Rush is on Game Pass and Steam now, and I highly recommend you check it out!
